


Unbearable Distance

by Duchesse



Category: The Legend of Zelda, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: F/F, F/M, Fluff, Gender Neutral, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, No Spoilers, Other, Reader-Insert, Reader-Interactive, Romance, you are initiated into the fishfucker club welcome
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-19
Updated: 2017-08-17
Packaged: 2018-10-07 14:33:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10362573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Duchesse/pseuds/Duchesse
Summary: Prince Sidon has always been overprotective of you and anxious over your depatures, whereas you’re just trying to keep yourself from being a blubbering mess.[Prince Sidon | Reader]





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> i've sinned and can't be forgiven.
> 
> i've officially been initiated into the fishfucker society. god bless.
> 
> this is spoiler-free and has two parts. if you have requests for botw fanfiction, please feel free to message me, leave a comment, or go to my tumblr @officiallytheduchess and anon me if you're too nervous.
> 
> i truly appreciate any feedback, and it would mean the world if you took the time to leave me some. thank you!

“Are you certain you wouldn’t just prefer for me to take you there myself?”

“No. Horseback will be more comfortable and more… dry…”

“Ah, yes. Point taken. However, I do think that if your village is so near to Lake Hylia, it would be most beneficial for me to–”

“There are merchants I need to meet along the way. Don’t worry about it.”

“My love, must you take the road less traveled? The descent through the hills, the woodlands, the pastures–they’re brimming with beasts!”

“It’s okay, seriously. Stop worrying so much.”

“Darling, please allow me–”

“Sidon!” you snapped, giving a hard slap the seat of the saddle. Your dappled steed gave an agitated snort through her nostrils at the dull noise and seemed to fidget uneasily in the presence of the zora prince. Moments like these made you feel fortunate that you were not among the few druids left in the world to bear the assault of animal telepathy.

With the abrupt silence that followed your outburst, you offered Sidon a single glance of exasperation before mounting the horse and adjusting your belongings on the back of the saddle. It had been quite sometime since you last managed to render him speechless, albeit at the price of you feeling like scum afterwards. 

Sidon was a sensitive soul even though he tried to cleverly disguise it behind a forced grin and an unnatural optimism. You could feel the annoyance rush from you body as though a painful blow had been landed to your chest. The sight of him dejectedly fussing with the many straps of your bags was both pitiful and difficult to observe.

“I…I will miss you. I’m not sure how I’ll handle not seeing you when I wake.” You couldn’t think of what else to say to him. Apologies were never your forte, and words in general only tumbled on your tongue in a mess. Yet just like every instance before this, Sidon collected himself and squared his shoulders, a grin capturing his very essence.

Even though the height of your draft horse elevated you some feet from the ground, Sidon still stood remarkably tall as he moved closer to you. Your mare snorted sharply, no doubt a warning to Sidon who didn’t pay it much heed. The piercing gaze of his amber eyes always captivated you, luring you into such calm that you could wake in the spirit world, not having been aware you had been killed.

“Even though we are apart, my heart will be with you no matter where you are. Rest assured of that.” Sidon’s hand was entirely too large for your face, a fact that you sometimes wondered bothered him, but never openly displayed if it did. He turned his hand to gently graze your cheek and jaw with his knuckles, repeating the motion enough times to permanently burn the feeling of your warm flesh against his cold scales to memory.

The moment Sidon began to reel his hand away from you, the urge to draw it back to you became near unbearable. But, your departure had been delayed long enough; the merchants were waiting impatiently whereas your family held their breaths for your safe trip. 

“Farewell, Sidon. I will return to you.”

“My love, I will pray for your safe passage and return to me.”

You felt the sensation of his touch leave your body, the cold of the air around you slithered around your body like a serpent. Even more painful still was watching his form grow uncomfortably small, his silhouette fade, and Zora’s Domain vanish from your view.

Even now, the memories of that day two months ago continue to wade through your mind like an unsettled sea. The daily lull that came with the routines imposed by your family weren’t enough to distract you from the painful constricting in your chest and thoughts of Sidon. Worst yet, you were alone with those thoughts–not a soul in your village knew of his existence, let alone knew that your lover was a zora.

Their reaction to it was unpredictable, and a part of you was too terrified for them to know. Your village wasn’t known to be especially accommodating to travelers or merchants, much less anyone not Hylian. 

“Shouldn’t you start thinking about settling down with someone? Leave behind all that adventurer stuff and get yourself a partner, a couple kids, comfortable house with a stove and some land. You’ll be set, then!”

If you had to hear that statement one more time, you would seriously consider throwing yourself into a pit of starving boars. The situation could have been remedied by confessing you were already in love with someone, yet at the price of weaving an intricate lie that you, truthfully, didn’t care enough to try to create.

The only times you could escape your prying family and the incessant chattering in your ears about a spouse was at night, beneath a sky veiled in stars and moonlight or a blanket of clouds that poured rain into the lake. You often walked the edge of the lake, enveloping yourself to the sound of crickets and the water rolling to shore, caressing you to the ankles before receding. 

This night was no different. The stars speckled the sky while the crescent moon hung above you. You stretched an arm towards the cratered orb, clenching your fingers repeatedly as you sighed. It always seemed so far from your reach, but surely Sidon could grab it.

“I’m always tortured with thoughts of you.”

“You and I are connected by fate. Your feelings are also mine.” 

The sudden voice reeled your attention towards the lake just as Sidon emerged, looking just as exquisite and regal as the last time you had seen him. Perhaps hinted by the contortions of your face, he smiled softly and trudged through the water towards you.

“My love, the fate that binds us has led me to you tonight.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bruh. here's chapter two. there should be one more part to wrap up this little mini-story. the last part will be the longest, as requested from people on tumblr. please let me know your thoughts on this part and i'll publish the last one as soon as i am able!

Under any other circumstances, the sight of your unconscious sister with her limbs sprawled across the beige sands of the shoreline would had struck you with a twisted sense of delight, yet you felt nothing of the sort presently. The young woman’s ear-splitting screech would be enough to deter even the mightiest of beasts, the most brazen of foes, and then reduce common folk to a quivering mess.

It would be a surprise if the whole village hadn’t been alerted that something was amiss, or at the very least to her. Hylia bless her, as much as you cherished your sister, she didn’t have much of a backbone to keep her upright in times of terror. Although you could say that you were currently experiencing a tangible amount of what she usually did at any moment she was startled.

You trudged across the short expanse of sand, driftwood, and jagged stone to where she laid, digging your knees into the soggy ground as you lifted her until she sat upright and thumbed across the narrow gash on her temple. She definitely had earned it in her graceful collapse.

“Gracious! I didn’t expect for her to react like that. I only thought to introduce myself as your lover.”

“Damnit, Sidon!“

Following the abruptness of a splash sending soft ripples to the shoreline, you could only make out the top of his head and eyes venturing above the surface of the water, disturbed by the uncharacteristic ferocity in your voice. You had even surprised yourself with harshness, the relentless simmering in your body had dissipated all at once, leaving you hollow and brimmed with regret.

"My love, forgive my rashness. It had not been my intention to frighten her like that.” Sidon’s said evenly, patiently. You always found his voice to be soothing, ebbing away the worries and anger that often haunted you like old ghosts.

“You should leave, Sidon, and do not return here,” you started, hoisting her up far enough to brace her back against a stone colonized by a green moss and red coral. “I’ll return to the domain in due time.”

There was something in manner which you had said that, an uncertainty that carried your words unsteadily as though you were perplexed by the statement yourself. It set a shock of uneasiness coursing through Sidon’s body. For the first time since he had met you and fallen in love with you, he didn’t believe the words that left your mouth. There was a part of you that didn’t, either.

“I will not!” Sidon shot back resolutely, ducking his head below the crystalline surface so fast that you only caught the tip of his scarlet caudal sinking into the depths before he reemerged, vaulting his body into the air. You threw your back towards the lake to protect your sister from the violent spray of water resulting from the sheer power of Sidon’s movements.

He landed on the tawny sands with a sort of otherworldly grace that you couldn’t help but find yourself in awe of. The water dripped from his scales and shone like a ruby held to the sun, his eyes reminded you of the power and warmth that emanated from a flame you were fixated to on a gray night. When he squared his shoulders and stood proudly, his attention never once straying from you, your felt your heart flutter as it had the first time you met him.

“I am the Zora Prince, I must take responsibility for my carelessness,” Sidon turned towards your sister, a frown marring his visage as he touched his knees to mounds of sand that caved beneath his weight. It was then that he glanced towards you, palms resting flat against his thighs while he waited a moment for you to respond to him. When you didn’t, he eagerly interjected the suggestion himself, “What can I do to assist you? Shall I carry her back to the village?”

You shook your head fervently, reaching for his arm in hopes it would dissuade him from acting on any idea he conjured up. “Sidon, you need to go home. This can’t continue. I don’t know what the reaction would be.”

Without warning, he gathered your hands from his arm and enveloped them in his own large ones, quieting your objections with a tenacity only suited for him, “I cannot do that. I will gladly burden their ignorance if only that means we can be together.”

“Sidon…” you breathed, nuzzling your cheek against the smooth scales over the back of his hand. “I wish you wouldn’t talk like that, but I miss you. I miss this. I’m always thinking about you.”

He laughed softly and grazed the back of fingers across your skin, trailing down until could tip your chin up to see your face fully. “It’s not mere coincidence that our fates entwined like this.”

“Yes, you’re right..” you said in a rush, pulling on the silver ornament around his neck to reel him closer to you still. “I love you, Sidon.”

“Of course, and I–”

Movement next to you both aroused Sidon’s interest enough to forced his words back into his throat, prompting you to look as well as your sister lolled her head from side-to-side and groaned groggily. She was having difficulty finding her bearings, her mind still veiled by a fog and her eyes barely piecing together temporal shapes.

It was then in your embarrassment that you and Sidon had forgotten about your unconscious sister, sitting there against the mossy stone as an unintentional witness to it all. The utter mortification that ceased your movements altogether were the opposite to Sidon.

He released you in favor of facing your sibling, waiting in excitement with fists clenched, drawn tightly towards his chest.

“Sidon…” you warned, casting a look from the corner of your eye.

It had fallen on deaf ears, however. Before you could have taken any precautions, your sister aimed her gaze at your lover, squinting and blinking multiple times as though she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

“W-What the–”

“Dear sister! Are you feeling well?” Sidon posed the question as harmlessly as he was able, his arms spread wide while his mouth stretched into a grin, displaying the jaggedness of his teeth. The warmth in his voice was something the goddess Hylia blessed herself. “Please pardon our last meeting, I was at fault for startling you. I’d like try again and get off on the right fin.”

She gawked at him for a long while, jaw slack with words that refused to meet her tongue. You lunged forward to steady her body against the slab of stone as her eyes rolled heavenward into her skull and she slumped forward, consciousness as fleeting as a shooting star.

“Ah! Sister!”

“Marion!”


	3. Chapter 3

The cover of night offered the opportunity to return Marion to the safety of home, guided only by the veil of glittering stars above. Maneuvering the town from the outskirts was a simple enough task, none of the guards had souls strong enough to brave the spots where flickers of ember couldn’t reach.

If it hadn’t been for their weak bellies and primitive fear of the unknown, Sidon speculated it would have been harder to creep through the center of the town, your silhouettes barely concealed by shadows cast from houses. Still, Sidon wasn’t one to take a blessing for granted.

With the little covered offered to you and him, as well as Marion’s limp body and swinging limbs, you were able to crouch into the safety of yours and Marion’s home. Sidon couldn’t recall a time where he had to pass through such a low doorway let alone feel so near to a ceiling.

He carefully maneuvered his head around, his caudal swaying with his languid movement as he evaded multiple light fixtures as well slabs of wood stabilizing the ceiling. Ultimately, however, even for all his zora grace, he admittedly was not a perfect being and rammed his head into a metal chandelier.

“Graci–Mmmph,” Sidon felt your hands clap across his mouth, the contact made his skin sting and pulse, dwindling his noises into nothing. Moments such as these made him feel as though Hylian’s were far swifter than they let on.

“Shh, just duck low and let’s keep going,” you said, taking your hands from his lips to light a candlestick. Sidon observed the eerie glow dancing on the walls, following it as your stretched your arm at full-length to reveal a short hallway which the small flame faintly illuminated.

Sidon adjusted Marion’s weight easily in his arms, cradling her as though she were a child, and hunched down to place his mouth near to your ear. “Where are we taking her exactly?”

At his question, you shifted your arm to shine the light up a set of stairs leading to the next floor. He approached the wooden staircase without another word to you, peering up inquisitively only to smash the top of his head against the frame.

Swallowing the groans of pain behind his tongue, he pressed onward to the second level of the house, struggling to find his balance beneath the narrow stairs which were obviously made for beings of much smaller stature than himself. His footfalls were an enormous strain on the stairs, their cries seemed to intensify with each step he took.

It didn’t take his eyes to know that you were as acutely aware of this as he was. He could imagine the many contortions and creases forming into your face as he moved. Regardless, he knew he couldn’t coward his way out of this, both as a commitment as your lover and as a prince.

To say he was relieved when the ceiling expanded and his spine cracked when he stood erect would be an understatement. He craned his neck to work out the kinks, all the while watching the delicate candlelight sway against the backdrop of black as you crossed the hall to a door at the end.

“This is her room,” you ushered him inside with a wave of the candlestick. “Hurry up and put her on the bed so you can get out of here.”

Sidon delivered Marion to her bed as easily as he could, lowering her back to the mattress so gently it seemed as though she were made of glass. As he slid his arms away from her body, he felt the coarseness of burlap and cotton glide across his hands, anchoring him to his spot in fear of rousing her.

“She’ll be fine, Sidon,” you assured with a comforting hand on his forearm as he straightened his back. “More than that, you need to get out of here before dawn. I won’t be able to help you much if you’re seen during the daytime.”

The words you spoke were tender, he could see the softness in your eyes just illuminated by the flickering flame. Your grip on his forearm was firm as you steered him away from where Marion slept peacefully. His eyes lingered on your sister’s form for but a moment before relenting and following closely behind you.

The very notion of returning to the domain without you once again put his heart into a vise. Too many nights had passed without you, welcoming daybreak had become such a sullen affair. He always fondly recalled the sun filtering through the mountains, the sky luxurious and warm shades of pink and orange; they always glistened off the strands of your hair that had gotten away during the night.

He missed those moments at the reservoir where you sat at the dock, legs cradling his head while you stroked his face, occasionally rousing the water by flicking your feet above the surface.

It was torment living like this, yet if it meant he could hold you, he would do so for an eternity.

Until he felt his chest collide with the back of your head, he hadn’t realize his mind had drifted elsewhere. Quelling a gasp of surprise, Sidon thought to ask why you had stopped in the hallway until he trained his eyes in the direction where you held your candlestick outstretched.

He swallowed.

There at the end of the hallway ascending the staircase to the second floor was a woman. Despite the wear of time etched into her flesh, her eyes held a brilliance that much resembled yours. Her round cheeks lifted as her jaw fell slack, eyes growing wide. She was in a disheveled state with her graying hair matted and strands standing on end, her fingers fidgeted with the belt looped at her thick waist.

Sidon expected what happened next. A scream so shrill erupted from the woman’s throat that he bowed his head to escape it, you had nearly dropped the candlestick as you boxed off one of your ears.

“REGLAN! REGLAAAAAN! OH MY GODDESS. REGLAN! GET UP HERE RIGHT NOW, HELP! GET UP YOU LAZY SACK OF CHICKEN DUNG!”

Even though she was no longer screaming, there was something worse about hearing her yell through the house, thrashing against the walls as she stumbled down a few of the stairs. Only mere moments had elapsed before light reached the hallway on the first floor, the lantern creaked as it was swung to-and-fro erratically.

An older man then appeared, withered from the passage of time as well yet his body remained strong. In her panic, his wife tumbled down the rest of the stairs and stole the harpoon from his grasp to turn it towards you and Sidon.

“MONSTER! RELEASE MY CHILD!” she shrieked, thrusting it once as emphasis.

“Mother! Stop!” you exclaimed, flailing the candlestick between you both. “He’s not a monster! Put the harpoon down. Calm down!”

“H-How did this beast get into our home?!” came the hoarse inquiry from the man. He stayed near your mother, occasionally shuffling closer towards her back to keep himself out of focus. “Get away from it!”

Sidon could tell from your restless shifting that you were on the verge of losing your composure. Ordinarily, your dedication to explaining your love of him would be absolutely enthralling, but now his concern was the harpoon dangerously nearing you.

Your parents lurched forward at the sight of Sidon taking hold of your waist and pulling you against him, putting a greater distance from the weapon.

“I say, this is all uncalled for. Lower your weapon this instant,” Sidon demanded, there was an edge to his voice that even he was unfamiliar with, never mind the way you tilted your head back to look at him. “This is no way to greet a prince or his betrothed!”

You sputtered in embarrassment, going as far ducking your head and landed a solid jab into his gut with your elbow. Yet the cumulative reaction from everyone else, including a gasp from the doorway behind captured his interest far more than he felt the pain in his stomach, and soon his shoulder.

“Slink back to where you came from! Begone!” Sidon had turned in time to catch sight of the ornate flower vase soaring towards him and tossed his body across you, smothering a hiss into your hair as the fragments of glass embedded into his shoulder and back and skittered across the floor.

When you had noticed what happened, it took all Sidon had to keep you from slithering out of his grasp and launching across the hallway at your sister. “Marion! How dare you!”

“No, no, no. My love, no. Let’s go,” Sidon cooed, sufficing to quell your flailing enough to hoist your body into his arms, braving the sharp surges of pain spreading across his body, and fled towards the large window filtering in moonlight through the dusty glass panes.

“They’re getting away!” your mother stomped to the top of the stairs, staggering across the hallway to catch her balance on the wall, mustering to keep the harpoon in hand. She turned towards Marion, the young woman who’s face was shielded by her hands and tears, and found her voice between labored puffs of air. “Alert the town guards! Get your father’s ax from the backyard.”

Marion nodded frantically and leapt down the staircase, nearly avoiding a collision with Reglan as he skittered to the next floor and peeked around the corner to where he saw Sidon fleeing with you in tow. The wariness on his brow firmed into a contemplative scowl, his eyes turned towards his wife.

“Larsa, let them go.”

Sidon didn’t bother to try to tune into the remnants of that conversation, even as he quickly turned with his back to the window, clutching your body to him desperately. Moments later, the blackness that surrounded him was replaced by the ethereal glow of the moon, the wind whistled around him along with your shrieks of terror.

As the ground came into sight, he planted his feet on the dewy grass but stumbled forward with your weight, tossing you to the ground first before rolling next to you.

“Ah, forgive me. Are you alright?” he asked urgently, crawling closer to you to wipe away the debris on your side.

“No, no, I’m not!” you growled, promptly bouncing to your feet and wrenching him up with all your might. It only took a brief glance at his arm for him to understand your anger, he could not think of a way to ease your distress nor his. “We’ve got to go before any of the guards find us!”

The run seemed to go on forever for him, yet he mustered the strength to keep going for you. Your hand gripped his so tightly that it prompted him to do the same, the beads of sweat at the back of your neck and hair matting to your face was enough for him.

He wouldn’t deny that the sight of the lake coming into view was breathtaking and lifted the boulder from his chest. The beige sands crunched underfoot while your reflections were illuminated across the surface of the lake as a mirror, revealing weary visages to him.

Those reflections in the water became ripples as you pulled him from the shoreline into the water, where you continued to trudge deeper and deeper until it reached your shoulders. Sidon held his grasp on your hand even as he began to swim around to face you, his fingers first twined loosely with yours before drifting with the gentle waves.

“When can we meet again?” he asked, fighting back the urge to reach for his shoulder and check the severity of his injuries. He couldn’t do that now, not with everything else that had happened.

“I don’t know,” was your answer, honest and hopeless. “I don’t know about anything now…”

At the sight of tears streaking your cheeks, glistening against the otherworldly glow surrounding you both, he reflexively reached for you, his arms cocooned your body while his hand cradled your nape. He waited for your tears to ebb and your eyes to meet his before bowing in and capturing your lips with his, smothering your groan as he kissed you fervently.

He wanted to carve this moment into his memory forever, for you to know the depth of his love for you.

“Just know… just know how much I love you, I wish I had the time to tell you all the ways,” he said quietly, reeling your face against your chest as he embrace your much smaller form. “You truly are the greatest treasure of my life, and I’ll do whatever it may take for us to be together.”

Every ounce of him struggled against the desire to take you with him as he unwound his limbs from your body and distanced himself from you. The waves that stirred from his powerful backstrokes pushed against your chest like a wall, propelling you away from him and closer to the safety of shore.

His gaze burned into yours, unblinking in fear of missing anything. He could no longer see the layers of your clothing stick against your flesh nor the droplets that twinkled as they fell from the tips of your hair and nose.

Soon, he could see but a faint silhouette that the moon held little influence over. And eventually, as he submerged into the depths, he could see you no longer.

He wondered when he would again.


End file.
